Sir Martin Sorrell has claimed he does not have "a substantial pay packet". Lord alone knows how much wonga the WPP boss would consider a decent amount, as last year's base salary was revealed on Monday to be £1.3m, up one-third on 2010. Sir Martin's compensation package – we're not saying pay, as FTSE bosses get angry over the semantics of their rewards – was just shy of £13m.

There are plenty of pariah jobs out there – arms dealers, journalists – but few anger do-gooders as much as cigarette-sellers. That didn't stop Imperial Tobacco boss Alison Cooper announcing increased revenue and dividend for the first six months of the financial year on Tuesday. The group further pleased investors with a £500m share buyback pledge.

On Thursday, RSA boss Simon Lee said demand for UK household and pet insurance was on the up.

... at a loss

It's not an Ashes summer, but still Australians queue to annoy the Brits. On Monday, Cameron Clyne, the head of National Australia Bank, announced 1,400 job cuts at its subsidiaries, the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks. Clyne said there had been "a significant downgrade in the growth prospects of the UK economy". Whatever – we've still got that urn.

An Aussie with a longer history of annoying Poms is Rupert Murdoch. The octogenarian's horrendous week, after a committee of MPs declared on Tuesday that he was "not a fit and proper person to exercise stewardship of a major international company", was saved by a vote of confidence from News Corp's board.

On Wednesday, Next boss Lord Wolfson admitted that heavy rain had dampened sales.